Kickin Into Gear

Well, we're headed into week three of classes. This semester is gonna be stressful and tiring. In addition to going to class for 15 hours a week and the homework load that it brings, which is a lot due to mostly 2000 level courses, I'm also working 10 hours a week at a job with increased responsibilities from last year. This means that for each week, I'll be spending 25 hours working and going to school and another 10 to 15 on homework. I've got a full time job on my hands. It's a damn good thing I've got fantastic people, one special person in particular, to help me though.

Round Two

Tomorrow marks the day I move back into room 437 E and start my second year in Elysium. I am definitely ready. I've got another friend up here and a special someone back home to miss. Let's start this party. It should be interesting to meet any new members of Elysium. It should also be interesting if my special someone comes and visits me. Let's go Huskies!

Feelings

Hello world,
Now first off, I honestly thought I'd be blogging more. My life in Elysium has been mostly uneventful. A good time here, drama there, a terrible time in class in between: all par for the course for college.

Then feelings happened.

The worst thing about these feelings is that they're not for anyone here. No, these feelings are for someone back home. These feelings are for my best friend, who is wonderfully enough my ex as well. He's in a "trial relationship" with a girl he's wanted forever, but he seems doubtful that she'll continue to return his feelings. There's also the possibility that she'll go to Colorado for college, something she wants but he wouldn't be able to handle. All of this would be okay to me, standing by as a loyal best friend to help handle, but she had to come to me for advice about my closest friend - my ex. I am dazed and confused by the situation I've been thrown into. I have to be honest and nice even though my brain wants to tell her off. Why does this happen to me? My Tech friends (lovingly referred to as Brick Squad) are all in happy (or mostly so) relationships with none of this kind of drama afoot. Feelings are awful and confusing.

KCCO

Alright, so I am a huge fan of The Chive. They have a very popular, and therefore elusive, brand shirt that is known as the KCCO (Keep Calm and Chive On). It had a launch this year already, at 12 PST at some point earlier. I kept an eye on the timer while in my Intro to Java class (which gets out at 3EST, 12PST) and tried to get one, but theChivery, their store, crashed at launch time. The KCCO is launching yet again and I will try to get one again. Hopefully it'll work.

Job Prospect!

I might be getting a job with campus IT! I have an interview on Tuesday for a position in Classroom Control Systems Programming! Yay jobs!

Other than that, it's pretty much been normal life here in Elysium. I'll be sure to tell the Internet if I end up getting the job or not.

People

Have you ever met someone that you tend to completely agree with in almost every way, but you can't stand their personality? I have. It sucks. This guy (who will be referred to as [Kid] from here on out), who is in one of my classes, makes comments that I agree with all the time, but he does it in a way that is so douchey. This morning, he asks a question that /might/ have been a dig at our professor, but she anticipated it. Nevertheless, [Kid] turns to his friend and fist bumps him. I saw him fist bumping like five times, and it always bugged me.

Anyway, time for other general news. Today is TMT night, and I'm excited to watch Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead with my hallmates. I sent in a few applications to the IT department and one of them sent me an email with follow-up questions. I replied and I'm hoping I get the position.

Life During Month Two

Life has certainly been fun so far here in Elysium. Just last night, we had a nice bonfire out at the Breakers and had an interesting encounter to retire the night. Programming is coming along quite nicely. I got 100% on my first homework program, which was a solo endeavor. Homework program two is a pair effort, and I think we've finished that one as well, which was well before even the test sets were due. I attended a program called "From Russia With Love," a celebration of Russian composers performed by the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra, as conducted by my Music Appreciation teacher, Dr. Neves. All in all, I've had a nice life so far with Allen, Brian, Erika, Corey, Margo, and the rest of the crazy people here.

Some Classes Suck

I seem to have a small dilemma. I have two classes (three if you count CS1121 lab and lecture separately) that seem interesting so far. I have two that have been history so far (Perspectives and Explorations in Computing), one that I've had already (Calc 1), my programming lecture/lab, and music appreciation, the last two (CS1121 and Music Appreciation) being the good ones. I'll try not to doze off in the others... Music Appreciation time soon!

My Professors

As I go through classes here at Tech, I'm getting to know which Professors I like and which ones I don't particularly care for. The good ones include Professor (Dr?) Poplawski, or Pops of CS 1121, and Dr. Neves of music appreciation. An example of awesomeness on Dr. Neves' part happened today. He referenced Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars all explaining how some evil beings were once good.

To Start the Day

It's weird to think that 15 or so students could be in a classroom ten minutes before class without the teacher being here with us, but that's currently the situation. We'll have see if this class offers anything of interest today.

Classes

Hello world. So I'm enjoying my life in Houghton so far, going on downtown excursions with my roommate, hanging out with everyone in Elysium, making a few friends. One part that kind of gets me down is how stunningly boring some of my classes have been so far. In one CS class, the room didn't even have a PA system, and the lecture was on the history of computers, which everyone seems to know anyway. I'm also stuck in Calculus 1, which I've already taken. My Perspectives on Inquiry teacher has no idea how to work computers, it would seem, and I can't even do the second assignment she wants because it's not been posted online. Some classes I can actually enjoy, however, such as my Intro to Java lectures and labs, for which I just did the homework, which was actually fun, in a nerdy way. Music Appreciation seems to be enjoyable as well, which is nice, because I need the HASS credit. Tomorrow I only have two classes, Perspectives and Intro to Java, which leaves time to blog on Husky Java 101 (Intro to Java blog! Yay!), nap, and probably do homework.

Schoooool...

So I'm currently waiting for my third and final class of today, Music Appreciation, to start. I'm really, really hoping it won't be as dreadfully boring as my first two classes were, and I have a feeling it'll be at least kind of interesting. Allen and I are hoping to talk to the manager of Good Times Music downtown about possible employment, so hopefully that goes.well.

Walmart!

My Saturday today has consisted of Rock Band with the guys, a Walmart adventure, a Domino's run (because our football team thrashed the other team, so it was 50% off :D), ping pong with new personal equipment, and now movies, all with Nick, Jason and Allen! A good day with good Elysium guys.

TMT Turns Interesting

So here in Elysium, we have this thing we call Terrible Movie Thursdays. All or most of the first-years (and others, we don't discriminate) get together in my room and we watch a terrible movie (or potentially a good movie if bad ones are in short supply). We had ten people in my 12x12 dorm room (with a few feet in front and back taken by desks) watching a movie called Thankskilling on my TV through Netflix, so that was awesome. (Movie is definitely not for those easily offended, by the way.) After that, we were hanging out in the hallway, as we tend to do, when the RA on duty (who shall remain nameless and be called "RA") came by on her rounds. At this point, it was nearing midnight, which was when rounds for tonight would end. She stuck around, through being dotted with markers and tickled mercilessly by a few guys in our hall. She hung out with us even after the one girl who was with us bailed. RA ended up being there until about 1:30am. During her time here, there was a flirtatious atmosphere between her and another guy (one that was dotting and tickling her) who happened to have a girlfriend. They were joking, but it was interesting. For reference, the guy in question is a first year (18) and RA is at least a third year (2nd year RA, just turned 20). Anyway, it was a fun night, and I love it here in Elysium. By the way, this all happened when Elysium's RA was gone somewhere, to return at the end of the weekend.

It Begins

Hello world! That sentence pretty much sums up the beginning of my academic career here at Michigan Tech. I have now been living on campus, in Wadsworth Hall (Wads), for twelve days. I'm now close to ending my third day of classes. It's weird, to say the least. I'm living on the fourth floor of East Wads, in a hall called Elysium, with a bunch of interesting and awesome people. This year should prove to be one of the most interesting, for lack of a better word.